The Tale of the Nopeeka Boo and the Cheep Cheep Pond
by supercomputer276
Summary: A retelling of a Japanese folk tale. A fisherkoopa fishes in a haunted Cheep Cheep pond and has a run-in with a most mysterious type of Boo. Originally written during a roleplay in the Koopa Klan Elite RP group.


Many years ago, as the Chai Kingdom was on the rise, the capital where the royal family lived was known as Heyan-OK. The imperial palace stood on a large hill, and on the path up to it was a bridge that crossed a large pond filled with a special fish - Golden Cheep Cheeps! They were found to live naturally there, their golden scales shimmering brightly in the sunlight. Truly creatures of great beauty!

The Emperor was so stricken with them, he claimed the pond as his own and forbade anyone fish his Cheep Cheeps. This upset many fisherkoopas who had grown used to fishing for them, for their flesh made for the tastiest meals that had ever graced their tongues. As such, when they came by and found that there was no one guarding the pond, they could not resist, and cast their lines into the water hoping for a nibble of the rare Golden Cheep Cheeps.

As it should happen, not far from the pond and bridge was a local graveyard. It was said to be haunted, and many avoided it. However, the fisherkoopas had found that, shortly after the Emperor had claimed the pond, that same eerie feeling that permeated the graveyard's air seemed to move in to surround the water around the bridge and its shoreline. It did not seem to harm the fish in any way, but it gave the Koopas shivers and shakes, chills and thrills. "It's haunted!" they cried. "The Cheep Cheep pond is surrounded with ghosts!"

Koopas had very active imaginations back then.

The creature said to haunt the graveyard, and now the Cheep Cheep pond, was a spirit known as the Nopeeka Boo. These are mysterious Boos that, along with their standard Boo tricks such as invisibility, have the ability to assume the shape of anything they wish, much like a Duplighost, but their mimickings have a, shall we say, fatal flaw: they are always missing the face. Yes, where-ever the face would be on whoever they are imitating would instead be completely blank and empty.

Time passed, and no one fished in the Cheep Cheep pond. In fact, many of the villagers now spent as little time in it as possible; if there was business with the Emperor, they hurried over the bridge so as to not linger. The Emperor would occasionally come down from his palace to admire the Golden Cheep Cheeps, and he seemed to be the only one to not feel or even notice the oppressive aura surrounding the place.

Eventually, a time came when one of the fisherkoopas had enough. "These stories of the pond being haunted are nonsense!" he declared to his wife. "It has been months since you have prepared one of those Golden Cheep Cheeps for our dinner, and I swear that we will have Golden Cheep Cheep this night!"

"But husband," his wife pleaded, "can you not feel the heavy air over the pond caused by the presence of vengeful spirits? I had to walk near it while shopping the other day, and even I can tell it's haunted! Please don't go!"

"Bah!" the fisherkoopa scoffed. "Some trick of the Emperor! It must be, for him to feel nothing but joy near them! Those Cheep Cheeps have always belonged to the people of this village! The Emperor has hogged them all to himself for far too long! I will fish in that pond, and bring home a Golden Cheep Cheep for our dinner!"

The wife wished again for her husband to not go, but she could tell his mind would not be changed, and so she saw him off as he marched to the pond, his fishing pole over his shoulder.

The sun was setting as the fisherkoopa approached the Cheep Cheep pond, as he figured the cover of darkness would keep his peers from harassing him. The air felt heavier than ever, but after gazing down at the Golden Cheep Cheeps below and seeing their scales shimmer in the low rays of the setting sun, he was filled with vigor; he would not let some measly air stop him! With that, he cast his line into the pond.

Before too long, he had a bite, and he yanked back his line, pulling out a sizeable Golden Cheep Cheep. "By the stars, this must be one of the bigger Cheep Cheeps in this pond! We shall eat well tonight!" he proclaimed to no one in particular. After giving his thanks to the stars, he started back home, carrying the flopping Cheep Cheep (we all know for how long they can live out of the water) on the end of his line.

But he did not get far before encountering a mysterious figure: a beautiful female Koopa dressed in an exquisite kimono - a traditional dress of the region. Well, her figure at least was beautiful, as she had her arm raised so the kimono's large sleeve hid her face. The fisherkoopa found this curious, but nothing of concern.

"Young koopa," the maiden's sweet voice inquired of him, "why do you have one of the Golden Cheep Cheeps from the pond on your line?"

"Is it not obvious?" he boasted. "I fished it out, as I did in many times past!"

"But those Cheep Cheeps belong to the Emperor," she pointed out. "By fishing, are you not stealing from him? You should really put it back."

"Bah! That pond and those Cheep Cheeps have always belonged to the village!" he protested. "The Emperor has no right to take it from the community that have enjoyed the fruits of its waters for as long as this village stood!"

"The Emperor has the right to do whatever he wants, for he is Emperor," she replied. "Put it back."

"No!" he refused. "My wife will prepare this fish for our dinner!"

"I said..." she replied sinisterly, and then dropped her arm to reveal that - her face was completely blank! " _ **PUT IT BACK!**_ "

The fisherkoopa screamed at the unnatural image before him, but a spark of his bravery that let him fish even in the haunted air reminded. Seizing his line even harder, he dodged and ran around the faceless apparition, which was becoming more and more ghostly transparent by the second, and ran down the trail away from the pond, back towards the village.

The night had taken full hold of the sky, the moon hidden, by the time the fisherkoopa returned to his house, panting from his fright. "That female Koopa...!" he said to himself, trying to get his wits back together. "The Nopeeka Boo of this village's legends are true...!" He looked down, and then felt his pride come back at the sight of the flopping Cheep Cheep on his line. "That's right! Not only is the Nopeeka Boo real, I have bested it! I truly have earned this Golden Cheep Cheep for my dinner! I must be sure to tell my wife to keep some of the scales so I can show the other fisherkoopas. I'll be the toast of the town for my bravery come morning!"

When he entered his house, he found to his surprise that none of the lanterns - paper ones used for illumination in those days - had been lit. His eyes were already adjusted to the darkness, and he could see his wife kneeling before the chopping block, her back to him. "Wife!" he greeted. "I have returned bearing the fruits of success! I have a Golden Cheep Cheep!"

"I have noticed, husband," the wife replied, never looking at him and seeming eerily emotionless, which he likely would have caught were he not proud of himself. "Its radiance is obvious even from here."

"We shall feast well tonight, and I shall be known as the bravest fisherkoopa in the village once the others hear of this!" he boasted. "Though I wonder why the lanterns are unlit, and you have not prepared a fire for cooking it. What is the reason for this?"

"Husband, please listen," the wife said. "I think it would be best if you returned that Golden Cheep Cheep to its pond immediately."

"What?!" he exclaimed. "After all I've gone through to get it?! I actually encountered the Nopeeka Boo that everyone says haunts the graveyard! I will admit I was frightened, but I return with my prize regardless! And yet you want me to just return it, like my accomplish means nothing?!"

"Those Cheep Cheeps belong to the Emperor now," she replied, her calm monotone unwavering even under the hostile emotions. "For the last time, take it back."

"You have no right to say such things to me!" he declared, stomping over to her and grabbing her shoulder to turn her around. "You are going to-!"

But he stopped short as he spun his wife, gasping with shock.

For she had no face.

The fisherkoopa started to scream again. He fell backwards, dropping the Golden Cheep Cheep to flop on the floor, and somehow managed to not land on his shell and backed up against the wall as the image of his wife stood and started to change. Her form twisted into some combination of his wife's dress and the maiden's kimono, her sleeved arms growing long, her hands turning into nightmarish claws, and it grew to a giant towering above him and almost excruciatingly slowly closed in on him.

He screamed until his voice was gone.

"EVEN THE DEAD KNOW TO HONOR THE WORD OF THE EMPEROR," the Nopeeka Boo's voice rumbled, seemingly shaking the house to its very core. "YOU WERE GIVEN EVERY CHANCE, AND NOW THAT YOU HAVE IGNORED THEM ALL IN YOUR FOOLISH PRIDE, _**YOU SHALL**_ _ **PAY!**_ "

The next morning, the sun rose, and of the fisherkoopa's peers came by his house to go fishing together, only to find it had become a ramshackle mess overnight. Furniture and items were scattered everywhere, and there was no trace of the fisherkoopa or his wife. The only thing they could find was a single small golden scale that, being expert fisherkoopas in their own right, recognized as that of a Cheep Cheep's. They hurried to the pond with all due haste, and found the same number of Golden Cheep Cheeps swam there as they had that morning, and with their keen eyes, they noticed that one had a missing scale.

They took this as a warning, and resolved to never fish in that pond again.

And that brings this tale to an end, but it's not truly the end of the story. For they say that the Golden Cheep Cheep pond still exists in Heyan-OK to this day, its waters undisturbed by a fishing line for the last few centuries. Although few believe the existence of the Nopeeka Boo these days, they still do not fish out of what is the new tradition. Of course, it is for their own protection.

For if you were ever so foolish as to fish for those Golden Cheep Cheeps... _the Nopeeka Boo will GET YOU._


End file.
